Hebgen Dam Repairs Working

The water is rising in Hebgen Lake. After emergency repairs finally allowed the dam operators to lower the flow into Montana’s Madison River a few weeks ago, everyone had their fingers crossed that the temporary patch would work. Now it appears that there will be plenty of holding capacity for the Madison through the winter and that brown trout spawning won’t be interrupted. “‘We’re actually gaining water on the lake now a little bit,’ said David Hoffman, spokesman for PPL Montana, operator of the dam. ‘The more major rehabilitation will have to wait, possibly until the spring or the spring of 2010.'” Brett French in the Billings Gazette.